Food and Wine Magazine Names Portland’s Tusk 2017 Restaurant of the Year

Today, Food and Wine Magazine released its Restaurants of the Year 2017 — the “definitive list of the 10 most exciting new places to eat in America now” — and among the featured restaurants from across the country is Portland’s Tusk, the farm-forward, Middle Eastern-inspired restaurant that opened in August 2016.

Tusk received conflicted reviews from Portland food critics last fall, so it was not an obvious choice for the elite list, but murmurs around the city have since suggested it’s gaining momentum. Have you eaten at Tusk? What’s your take? Share it in the comments or reach out to Eater PDX directly over the tip line.

According to Food and Wine’s write up, Tusk was featured in part because executive chef Sam Smith has shown he can transform the cooking styles he picked up at Philadelphia’s Zahav and Portland’s Ava Gene’s into something “all his own.” The publication also writes, “The mechanics of his modern Israeli cooking are just right: the hummus smooth, the pita puffy, the feta tangy.”

• Tusk [Official]
• Food & Wine Restaurants of the Year 2017 [Food and Wine]
• All Previous Tusk Coverage [EPDX]